NEWS

NEWS

Blast at Afghan airfield kills 4

An attack killed four people and injured more than a dozen others on Saturday when an explosive device was detonated at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, the NATO mission there said.

The Taliban's spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the attack in a tweet praising the Taliban's "strong attack on Bagram airfield."

"To the family and friends of those who lost their lives today, we share your loss and our thoughts are with you. We offer you our deepest condolences," said U.S. Army Gen. John W. Nicholson, commander of Resolute Support.

"For the family and friends of those wounded in today's attack, let me assure you they are receiving the best care possible, and we will keep them in our thoughts today," Nicholson said.

NATO said 14 people were injured in the incident, which happened just after 5:30 a.m. local time. Its force protection and medical teams responded.

Haji Shokoor, the district governor of Bagram, told CNN that "the people killed in the blast were foreign citizens, but we don't know their nationalities. Shokoor said the injured are all Afghan nationals.

The airfield is the largest U.S. military base in Afghanistan and is located next to the ancient city of Bagram, southeast of Charikar in the Parwan province. Bagram is located more than 30 miles north of Kabul, the nation's capital.

The report follows a spate of recent attacks, including a suicide car bomb which targeted the German consulate in Afghanistan's northern Balkh province on Thursday.